Future Events 10 REASONS WHY IMU WILL LOSE IN ELBAPH
- Thread starter Kair0s1
- Start date
My biggest problem is that I could kind of see it going either way.
Personally, I'm don't think Imu is going to die on Elbaph. If only because Oda has historically been VERY conservative with killing off his big, main characters. I still have major doubts that Big Mom and Kaido are actually dead, even after getting thrown in a volcano. But, I could see this being kind of like with what seems to be the case with the Gorosei. The Gorosei, at the moment, seem too weakened by their battle on Egghead to properly help defend Mariejois. So, I could see Imu ended up too weak to actually do much of anything for the True Final Arc.
How would that happen? Well...the Strawhat side of things actually aren't in very good shape, I'll admit. Their two biggest hitters in Luffy and Loki are both exhausted. And most of the other Strawhats and Giants don't really strike me as strong enough to do much more than maybe buy Luffy and Loki time to recover.
But, Imu doesn't seem to be in the best health, either. Maybe from some sort of "Ancient Disease" like we saw with Ginny's Sapphire Scales, or maybe something else. But, that's probably going to keep Imu from going all out, too. So, as far as handicaps go, the fight does seem more or less fair.
Personally, I feel like the biggest x-factor here is if Loki can fully Awaken his Fruit or not. If you'll notice, Luffy and Imu both seem to have Awakened their Fruits, but it doesn't seem like Loki has, yet. If Loki can Awaken his Nidhogg Fruit mid-battle that COULD be enough to turn the tide and send Imu running again.
But, this is feeling more and more like a humbling "Sabaody"-type situation, where the Strawhats could lose. They might be able to escape with a few characters, but Imu could gain the land and the Ancient Lab. But, there are situations where you can win the battle, but lose the war. So, even if Imu ends up gaining control of most of Elbaph, I tend to doubt it'd be a complete victory. The Strawhats could probably at least escape to win another day.
Also, if Luffy gets much worse, it might actually become a plot point. Maybe Luffy exhausts himself from going into "old man mode" so much, that the only way to save him is to get him to Laugh Tale as quickly as possible? Either because Chopper's panacea is there or for some other reason. Then the next arc is all about dragging Luffy's dying body over the finish line to Laugh Tale. I don't feel like that's the way Oda would go with it, but I can't say it's impossible, either. Plus, then Oda would have a excuse to get us to Laught Tale as quickly as possible.
Plus, I don't want to discount Blackbeard, either. Just the fact that Imu HAS a Devil Fruit in the first place means that Blackbeard actually has a pretty big advantage, here. Remember, Blackbeard can nullify Devil Fruit powers. So, if Blackbeard can lay his hands on Imu, that means Imu might just be done. If Imu doens't have the Immortality Surgery, and if the Akuma Fruit is responsible for Imu's long life, that could mean that Imu would start feeling those 800 years pretty suddenly.
Blackbeard would just have to get Van Augur to use his Warp Fruit to teleport himself right over to Imu at some key moment to touch Imu. Blackbeard doesn't even need to be the one who directly kills Imu. Blackbeard could just touch Imu while Loki's firing off a lightning bolt, and Imu probably couldn't tank that attack anymore, without his Devil Fruit.
So, I could see Blackbeard making a surprise, last minute appearance during Elbaph. Kind of like what we got back in Egghead. Possibly even stealing Imu's Fruit, like he did with Whitebeard. If we take things at face value, right now Blackbeard has a (odd) Logia and a Paramecia. And Imu's Akuma Fruit seems like a Zoan. So, that would be a nice way to complete Blackbeard's collection. Just sayin'.
Maybe that's "cope"? But, maybe not. Blackbeard does seem sneakier than Imu is.
And that's another thing that I want to talk about. Imu doesn't seem to be acting like a villain in this chapter. I have some serious doubts that Imu is actually a "bad guy" in all this at all.
I'll admit, I was one of the biggest supporters of Imu turning out to be a girl. Because, I thought that it'd be easier for the audience to accept a "Imu redemption", if Imu was portrayed as being a more sympathetic female character. But, even with Imu being revealed to be male, I still haven't changed my mind that Imu simply isn't being portrayed as a "elemental evil" character. I think Oda's just made his job a lot harder for him, than if he had revealed Imu to be a girl. But, I still think we're in for a reveal that everything Imu's done has been more or less for the "greater good". It's just that the thing about the "greater good" is that it allows you to ignore a lot of the "little evils" that you do along the way.
I mean, just in this chapter, we see Imu lecture the Gorosei about not letting themselves get controlled by their "sins". Imu seems to want the Gorosei to improve themselves. That's...not really something a "elemental evil" type character would do, is it? If Imu was simply as evil as some people think he is, he'd probably just kill off another of the Gorosei to get the rest of them to snap back in line. But, he doesn't do that.
In fact, the Gorosei seem legitimately concerned about Imu leaving Mariejois. And it doesn't come across like they're concerned for their own sake. With Imu coughing up blood after leaving Mariejois, it seems like they were actually worried about Imu's health. And, in fact, they aren't the only ones. As even the other God's Knights seem pretty fond of Imu, calling him "ontai" or "beloved leader" in Japanese.
And that's another thing...it seems like Imu travelling to Elbaph is being treated like a self-sacrifice play. At last-ditch effort to turn the tide of battle. Imu seems to be sacrificing his own health and comfort in order to achieve something he believes needs to be done. That's not something someone who is "elementally evil" would do. Especially not a Celestial Dragon who's used to all their creature comforts. Imu's just being portrayed as being too "noble" here. to actually be a full-on villain.
I feel like Imu is kind of in a Loki situation. In the first few chapters of Elbaph, everyone was saying how much of a villainous monster that Loki was. And a lot of fans were convinced that he'd be the main villain of the Elbaph arc. But, the more we got to know about Loki, the more we saw he was a pretty decent guy. Oda loves subverting expectation. If a character is treated as a "hero" in the beginning of a arc, chances are he'll turn out to be a villain, like with Crocodile and Doflamingo. But, if someone's treated like a villain in the beginning of a arc, chances are, they'll be revealed to be a pretty decent guy. Like with Loki or even Vivi. There's exceptions, of course, but that seems to be a pretty common repeating theme in One Piece.
Imu's just a little too obviously evil, to actually turn out to be evil, in my opinion. He's hidden in shadows most of the time. He's got the whole "Devil" aesthetic going. But, it's mostly all surface-level stuff with Imu. Imu hasn't really DONE a lot that can be called villainous, at least not directly. The worst thing that Imu's done so far is erase Lulusia. And I feel like that's a "you have to break a few eggs, to make a omelet" sort of situation. There's probably more to that, than we know right now.
You know who Imu reminds me the most of from past arcs? Chouchou, the dog from Orange Town. A lot like Chouchou, Imu mostly stayed in one spot, loyally maintaining the status quo. Watching over a area, in order to honor the memory of someone else. I feel like Imu will end up paralleling that angry little dog more than anyone else.
So, some people were wondering why it would even make sense to take Imu off the board now, of all times? Why get rid of Imu, right when he's finally becoming relevant to the story?
Well, it's pretty simple. Because beating Imu is going to be a VERY bad thing, that releases something even worse.
If you notice, this very chapter, we see black smoke rising from the ground before Imu's Summoning Circle manifests. I feel like this is a hint that Imu has some connection to the Underworld. Imu has some connection to some hidden power, deep underground. Possibly where the Mother Flame used to be. "Where there's smoke, there's fire". Or there USED to be "fire" at the very least.
I've talked a little about this before, but it seems pretty likely to me that Imu's likely sealing something worse away. Possibly a Demon King like Tot Musica, or something else. Everything that Imu's done has been in service of keeping this destructive force "asleep", so that it wouldn't hurt anyone else.
Think of it like...Cerberus, from Greek Mythology. If you look at Cerberus, you would assume he's a monster, and that you'd be better off killing him. But, if you kill Cerberus, you've just got rid of the Guardian of the Underworld, who was keeping all the demons and ghosts from escaping. And now, all those demons are going to be rushing to escape their Underworld prison, right into your home in the world above.
Imu is possibly the "Guardian of the Gate". Everything that Imu's done has possibly been to keep that Gate closed, and those "demons" imprisoned in the Underworld. Luffy and Nika are all about Freedom...but sometimes you free the wrong kind of people. Imu is probably all about stability and control. And...those are two qualities that Luffy is NOT known for.
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...n-the-gates-to-tar-d-eris.79996/#post-6630647
As for Imu NEEDING to be still be alive for us to get the Void Century Flashback, I'm not sure I agree with that. I mean...why, exactly? It's not like we needed Rocks or Roger to still be alive for the God Valley Flashback to happen.
In fact, it'd actually make MORE sense to get rid of Imu NOW, just so Imu doesn't have a chance to spoil the Void Century Flashback for anyone, before we reach Laugh Tale. Oda does love his last-minute reveals. So, I do feel like he's going to put off the Void Century Flashback for later. Having someone who was alive during the Void Century just means you have to keep Imu from explaining what's going on to anyone. Oda would HAVE to keep Imu from inconveniently mentioning anything that might let the Strawhats know what they're doing might be a bad idea.
Plus, if we do get rid of Imu now, that'd actually be a nice bit of dramatic irony for later. Let's say we actually do learn about the Void Century during Laugh Tale. Wouldn't it be more interesting if we learned Imu was actually trying to do the right thing, all along? That way, we can have a moment of the Strawhats going "Well...maybe we shouldn't have gotten rid of that guy, after all?" The Strawhats would kind of be the ones in the wrong, and would have to make up for their "mistake" by fixing things.
So, yeah. To make a long story short, I'm still personally leaning towards Blackbeard as the final villain of the story. Or at least closer to it. I have a feeling the "True Final Villain" may be someone we haven't met yet. Possibly another Demon King. Or maybe there is no real "villain" here, and it's more about trying to fix a messed up and complicated situation. But, I think that if Imu does end up dying here, it'll end up being treated like a tragic mistake. Because, personally, I feel like Imu has more reasons for everything that's happened than we know about, right now. Despite everything, I just don't feel like Imu's the true villain of this story.
Personally, I'm don't think Imu is going to die on Elbaph. If only because Oda has historically been VERY conservative with killing off his big, main characters. I still have major doubts that Big Mom and Kaido are actually dead, even after getting thrown in a volcano. But, I could see this being kind of like with what seems to be the case with the Gorosei. The Gorosei, at the moment, seem too weakened by their battle on Egghead to properly help defend Mariejois. So, I could see Imu ended up too weak to actually do much of anything for the True Final Arc.
How would that happen? Well...the Strawhat side of things actually aren't in very good shape, I'll admit. Their two biggest hitters in Luffy and Loki are both exhausted. And most of the other Strawhats and Giants don't really strike me as strong enough to do much more than maybe buy Luffy and Loki time to recover.
But, Imu doesn't seem to be in the best health, either. Maybe from some sort of "Ancient Disease" like we saw with Ginny's Sapphire Scales, or maybe something else. But, that's probably going to keep Imu from going all out, too. So, as far as handicaps go, the fight does seem more or less fair.
Personally, I feel like the biggest x-factor here is if Loki can fully Awaken his Fruit or not. If you'll notice, Luffy and Imu both seem to have Awakened their Fruits, but it doesn't seem like Loki has, yet. If Loki can Awaken his Nidhogg Fruit mid-battle that COULD be enough to turn the tide and send Imu running again.
But, this is feeling more and more like a humbling "Sabaody"-type situation, where the Strawhats could lose. They might be able to escape with a few characters, but Imu could gain the land and the Ancient Lab. But, there are situations where you can win the battle, but lose the war. So, even if Imu ends up gaining control of most of Elbaph, I tend to doubt it'd be a complete victory. The Strawhats could probably at least escape to win another day.
Also, if Luffy gets much worse, it might actually become a plot point. Maybe Luffy exhausts himself from going into "old man mode" so much, that the only way to save him is to get him to Laugh Tale as quickly as possible? Either because Chopper's panacea is there or for some other reason. Then the next arc is all about dragging Luffy's dying body over the finish line to Laugh Tale. I don't feel like that's the way Oda would go with it, but I can't say it's impossible, either. Plus, then Oda would have a excuse to get us to Laught Tale as quickly as possible.
Plus, I don't want to discount Blackbeard, either. Just the fact that Imu HAS a Devil Fruit in the first place means that Blackbeard actually has a pretty big advantage, here. Remember, Blackbeard can nullify Devil Fruit powers. So, if Blackbeard can lay his hands on Imu, that means Imu might just be done. If Imu doens't have the Immortality Surgery, and if the Akuma Fruit is responsible for Imu's long life, that could mean that Imu would start feeling those 800 years pretty suddenly.
Blackbeard would just have to get Van Augur to use his Warp Fruit to teleport himself right over to Imu at some key moment to touch Imu. Blackbeard doesn't even need to be the one who directly kills Imu. Blackbeard could just touch Imu while Loki's firing off a lightning bolt, and Imu probably couldn't tank that attack anymore, without his Devil Fruit.
So, I could see Blackbeard making a surprise, last minute appearance during Elbaph. Kind of like what we got back in Egghead. Possibly even stealing Imu's Fruit, like he did with Whitebeard. If we take things at face value, right now Blackbeard has a (odd) Logia and a Paramecia. And Imu's Akuma Fruit seems like a Zoan. So, that would be a nice way to complete Blackbeard's collection. Just sayin'.
Maybe that's "cope"? But, maybe not. Blackbeard does seem sneakier than Imu is.
And that's another thing that I want to talk about. Imu doesn't seem to be acting like a villain in this chapter. I have some serious doubts that Imu is actually a "bad guy" in all this at all.
I'll admit, I was one of the biggest supporters of Imu turning out to be a girl. Because, I thought that it'd be easier for the audience to accept a "Imu redemption", if Imu was portrayed as being a more sympathetic female character. But, even with Imu being revealed to be male, I still haven't changed my mind that Imu simply isn't being portrayed as a "elemental evil" character. I think Oda's just made his job a lot harder for him, than if he had revealed Imu to be a girl. But, I still think we're in for a reveal that everything Imu's done has been more or less for the "greater good". It's just that the thing about the "greater good" is that it allows you to ignore a lot of the "little evils" that you do along the way.
I mean, just in this chapter, we see Imu lecture the Gorosei about not letting themselves get controlled by their "sins". Imu seems to want the Gorosei to improve themselves. That's...not really something a "elemental evil" type character would do, is it? If Imu was simply as evil as some people think he is, he'd probably just kill off another of the Gorosei to get the rest of them to snap back in line. But, he doesn't do that.
In fact, the Gorosei seem legitimately concerned about Imu leaving Mariejois. And it doesn't come across like they're concerned for their own sake. With Imu coughing up blood after leaving Mariejois, it seems like they were actually worried about Imu's health. And, in fact, they aren't the only ones. As even the other God's Knights seem pretty fond of Imu, calling him "ontai" or "beloved leader" in Japanese.
And that's another thing...it seems like Imu travelling to Elbaph is being treated like a self-sacrifice play. At last-ditch effort to turn the tide of battle. Imu seems to be sacrificing his own health and comfort in order to achieve something he believes needs to be done. That's not something someone who is "elementally evil" would do. Especially not a Celestial Dragon who's used to all their creature comforts. Imu's just being portrayed as being too "noble" here. to actually be a full-on villain.
I feel like Imu is kind of in a Loki situation. In the first few chapters of Elbaph, everyone was saying how much of a villainous monster that Loki was. And a lot of fans were convinced that he'd be the main villain of the Elbaph arc. But, the more we got to know about Loki, the more we saw he was a pretty decent guy. Oda loves subverting expectation. If a character is treated as a "hero" in the beginning of a arc, chances are he'll turn out to be a villain, like with Crocodile and Doflamingo. But, if someone's treated like a villain in the beginning of a arc, chances are, they'll be revealed to be a pretty decent guy. Like with Loki or even Vivi. There's exceptions, of course, but that seems to be a pretty common repeating theme in One Piece.
Imu's just a little too obviously evil, to actually turn out to be evil, in my opinion. He's hidden in shadows most of the time. He's got the whole "Devil" aesthetic going. But, it's mostly all surface-level stuff with Imu. Imu hasn't really DONE a lot that can be called villainous, at least not directly. The worst thing that Imu's done so far is erase Lulusia. And I feel like that's a "you have to break a few eggs, to make a omelet" sort of situation. There's probably more to that, than we know right now.
You know who Imu reminds me the most of from past arcs? Chouchou, the dog from Orange Town. A lot like Chouchou, Imu mostly stayed in one spot, loyally maintaining the status quo. Watching over a area, in order to honor the memory of someone else. I feel like Imu will end up paralleling that angry little dog more than anyone else.
So, some people were wondering why it would even make sense to take Imu off the board now, of all times? Why get rid of Imu, right when he's finally becoming relevant to the story?
Well, it's pretty simple. Because beating Imu is going to be a VERY bad thing, that releases something even worse.
If you notice, this very chapter, we see black smoke rising from the ground before Imu's Summoning Circle manifests. I feel like this is a hint that Imu has some connection to the Underworld. Imu has some connection to some hidden power, deep underground. Possibly where the Mother Flame used to be. "Where there's smoke, there's fire". Or there USED to be "fire" at the very least.
I've talked a little about this before, but it seems pretty likely to me that Imu's likely sealing something worse away. Possibly a Demon King like Tot Musica, or something else. Everything that Imu's done has been in service of keeping this destructive force "asleep", so that it wouldn't hurt anyone else.
Think of it like...Cerberus, from Greek Mythology. If you look at Cerberus, you would assume he's a monster, and that you'd be better off killing him. But, if you kill Cerberus, you've just got rid of the Guardian of the Underworld, who was keeping all the demons and ghosts from escaping. And now, all those demons are going to be rushing to escape their Underworld prison, right into your home in the world above.
Imu is possibly the "Guardian of the Gate". Everything that Imu's done has possibly been to keep that Gate closed, and those "demons" imprisoned in the Underworld. Luffy and Nika are all about Freedom...but sometimes you free the wrong kind of people. Imu is probably all about stability and control. And...those are two qualities that Luffy is NOT known for.
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...n-the-gates-to-tar-d-eris.79996/#post-6630647
As for Imu NEEDING to be still be alive for us to get the Void Century Flashback, I'm not sure I agree with that. I mean...why, exactly? It's not like we needed Rocks or Roger to still be alive for the God Valley Flashback to happen.
In fact, it'd actually make MORE sense to get rid of Imu NOW, just so Imu doesn't have a chance to spoil the Void Century Flashback for anyone, before we reach Laugh Tale. Oda does love his last-minute reveals. So, I do feel like he's going to put off the Void Century Flashback for later. Having someone who was alive during the Void Century just means you have to keep Imu from explaining what's going on to anyone. Oda would HAVE to keep Imu from inconveniently mentioning anything that might let the Strawhats know what they're doing might be a bad idea.
Plus, if we do get rid of Imu now, that'd actually be a nice bit of dramatic irony for later. Let's say we actually do learn about the Void Century during Laugh Tale. Wouldn't it be more interesting if we learned Imu was actually trying to do the right thing, all along? That way, we can have a moment of the Strawhats going "Well...maybe we shouldn't have gotten rid of that guy, after all?" The Strawhats would kind of be the ones in the wrong, and would have to make up for their "mistake" by fixing things.
So, yeah. To make a long story short, I'm still personally leaning towards Blackbeard as the final villain of the story. Or at least closer to it. I have a feeling the "True Final Villain" may be someone we haven't met yet. Possibly another Demon King. Or maybe there is no real "villain" here, and it's more about trying to fix a messed up and complicated situation. But, I think that if Imu does end up dying here, it'll end up being treated like a tragic mistake. Because, personally, I feel like Imu has more reasons for everything that's happened than we know about, right now. Despite everything, I just don't feel like Imu's the true villain of this story.
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It's looking highly likely that Imu and Teach are just the opening acts to the finale. Shueisha and Oda are set to drag this story out as long as humanly possible. We’re probably looking at a massive bait where Imu and Teach/Jones keep fans swinging around, only to reveal some planetary-scale force that Oda pulls out of the depths of his bunghole at the last second. Whether it's the original Nika's ancient evil from the First World, some sentient Devil Fruit Tree spirit, or the Red Line itself turning into a Jormungandr, or a mix of all that.
Let's face it, this is highly likely knowing the shock value-obsessive Oda has a full deck of wild cards thanks to the Void Century lore, ready to keep the profits rolling in for another decade.
Let's face it, this is highly likely knowing the shock value-obsessive Oda has a full deck of wild cards thanks to the Void Century lore, ready to keep the profits rolling in for another decade.
Yeah I agree, Imu isn’t getting beaten here. But if he gets pushed back by Luffy and Loki, which fits perfectly with Elbaph being such a Nika-focused arc, then all the hype around him is going to drop real fast.
I’m taking my W for calling Imu the arc’s main villain. Next up is watching the community lose it when he doesn't live up to expectations.
I’m taking my W for calling Imu the arc’s main villain. Next up is watching the community lose it when he doesn't live up to expectations.
The Ancient Weapons are named after three gods. Poseidon is the Sea God, so i think Pluton is tied to the Earth God.
I think Pluton has some kind of earth-manipulation power. I’ve believed that ever since it was revealed that the walls around Wano were raised to protect the Ancient Weapon.
Now that there’s a connection between the Earth God and the Red Line I’m even more convinced.
I think Pluton has some kind of earth-manipulation power. I’ve believed that ever since it was revealed that the walls around Wano were raised to protect the Ancient Weapon.
Now that there’s a connection between the Earth God and the Red Line I’m even more convinced.
The Ancient Weapons are named after three gods. Poseidon is the Sea God, so i think Pluton is tied to the Earth God.
I think Pluton has some kind of earth-manipulation power. I’ve believed that ever since it was revealed that the walls around Wano were raised to protect the Ancient Weapon.
Now that there’s a connection between the Earth God and the Red Line I’m even more convinced.
I think Pluton has some kind of earth-manipulation power. I’ve believed that ever since it was revealed that the walls around Wano were raised to protect the Ancient Weapon.
Now that there’s a connection between the Earth God and the Red Line I’m even more convinced.
Earth god was definitely a living entity imo. We shall see.
You’re told that the Ancient Weapons are named after three gods. I’m not saying the Ancient Weapon Pluton is the Earth God, just that it simply takes its name from it.
It would still be significant though, as it would place the Earth God firmly in the past, so there’s no need to find an active character parallel. You’d just have the Ancient Weapon.
It would still be significant though, as it would place the Earth God firmly in the past, so there’s no need to find an active character parallel. You’d just have the Ancient Weapon.
